Reimagining Oakland

Andrea always like to tell me that, "You certainly don't lack vision."   What she means is that I can envision  (very clearly) something in my head that doesn't yet exist..  I think that could be true of many folks but I've had enough experience to know that it's one thing to envision something and another thing to actually make it happen.

I've been fortunate enough to have created quite a bit of new work when I have the proper tools, and time to be left alone to make it happen. Nearly all of it is computer based work which sometimes leaves me dissatisfied.

With this house, it is fun to see all of the past visions come true.  Some of it is even better than I imagined.  Whenever I get a "vision", I immediately want to start working on it to get it out of my head and turn it into something material that we can all see.

Now that we've been living in Oakland a few years exploring some wonderful areas, my vision has expanded beyond the house, beyond the neighborhood and now encompasses even Oakland.

So I quickly Photoshopped a few images that combine the natural, watery beauty of Lake Merritt, with the hard, recycled steel from W. Oakland artist KAREN CUSOLITO.   


She is perhaps best known for creating huge sculptures out of steel for Burning Man
http://www.karecuso.com/

She now runs American Steel Studios only a few blocks from us and I accidentally "discovered" her art while picking up a free piece of linoleum for the kitchen.

Lake Merritt is also a favorite place of ours to visit and suddenly it dawned on me that the two could combine in some ways. So here are some visions of Lake Merritt with artwork by Cusolito.

So I've sent these pics to our local city supervisor.   Can't you just picture it?